Cameron thinks guitar amps are too fancy and complicated but the 5F1 Champ just has a volume control so yeah. It’s responsive, wooooooo. Cameron also thinks that Russell Brand’s videos are full of woo.

We talk about how awful it was when youtube changed comment systems to be integrated with Google Plus, but how everyone has forgotten about that by now, and how Walker’s traffic seems to suggest that GooTube has been tweaking their algorithms recently. Twitter reply changes are coming soon, so we’ll see if twitter conversations improve or not soon enough as well. Walker has been using the worst twitter client ever, for the lulz. We discuss guitar microphone techniques for a bit while waiting for Walker to find the oysttyer twitter client info.

Topic: Meditation

The quote Walker butchers was from 5by5 After Dark 24: After Back to Work 16. Topic was about not letting fear rule your life but also talking about how it makes us human. Turns out the exact quote wasn’t quite as related to the topic as Walker remembered.

Did you ever hear an interview with Kuklinski the serial killer? He worked with the mob as a hit man, he was like the definition of a psychopath. In any case, this interview is fascinating, because the interviewer would ask him questions like, like at one point he was in a fight with some guy who was gonna shoot him, and he asked him “weren’t you afraid?” and he said “yeah I was afraid but it didn’t bother me”. Did it hurt when you got shot? “Yeah it hurt but it didn’t bother me.”

There’s some really good discussion of sitting practice and meditation in episodes 10-20 or so of B2W. Episode 16 is one of my favorites.

Walker’s been trying to start a sitting practice so we discuss it from a very high level. Probably too high of a level.

Is meditation supposed to help you deal with things that have happened to you? Or is it supposed to prepare you for things that might or will happen to you in the future?

Is it supposed to help you control your own mind and will? Or is it supposed to help you be less judgemental about the things your mind and body do that are out of your control?

We’re not going to be able to find the answers here, of course, but it’s a good start to decide to start practicing. This is the guided meditation Walker has been using, but sometimes he just meditates on “Mu”. We discuss a little bit about Rinzai vs. Soto Zen Buddhism and brainstorm some ideas for how to get started with clearing your head. One of Walker’s big problems is the Brain Crack.

Aftershow: Saws

Cameron is gonna try to rip some logs. You used to have to use a saw pit, but now there’s frame saw, circular saw, hand saws. You can rip with a track saw or a band saw, but with a band saw you’re limited in log width. We’ll probably just have to do a whole episode on saws sometime. Meantime, here’s a thorough description of “saw geometry” that should clear up any confusion.